Density and power dissipation of electronics used in telecommunications is increasing. Effective cooling design is a critical component of the design of the chassis (also called “shelf”) commonly used to house such electronic equipment. Prior art methods of cooling are illustrated (FIG. 1) by the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA), a series of industry specification standards for next generation carrier grade communications equipment, such as ATCA 3.0. The ATCA specification defines the physical and electrical characteristics of such as form factors, power, cooling, management interfaces, and the electromechanical specification of ATCA-compliant boards.
FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of a prior art shelf 100 in conformance with ATCA. Shelf 100 has fans 121 and 122 located adjacent to a rear side of shelf 100. When fans 121 and 122 are operated, air is pulled into shelf 100 at a front side into a bottom plenum 110. From plenum 110, a portion of air is pulled into a planar channel 111 between two front boards, as illustrated by arrows 101 and 102. From planar channel 111 air is pulled into a top plenum 112 as shown by arrows 104 and 105. In addition, air is also pulled from bottom plenum 110 into another planar channel 113 that is defined between two rear transition modules (RTMs), as illustrated by arrow 103. Air in channel 113 is pulled into the top plenum 112 as illustrated by arrow 106.
Inventors of the current patent application believe that improvements in the prior art air flow shown in FIG. 1 are desired.